Democratic elections, a mockery in Sri Lanka: Pandian

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 January 2010, 06:51 GMT]When there is an ongoing genocide and thousands of Tamil speaking people are still kept in concentration camps, when people are denied freedom of movement, when arrests, disappearances and rapes are being reported on a daily basis, when independent media is not allowed to visit and document the plight of the Tamil people, and when the country is behind an iron curtain, holding elections is a mockery, said D. Pandian, the state Secretary of the Communist Party of India in Tamil Nadu. The war was not conducted by the Sri Lankan government alone. It was aided by the Indian government. "As an Indian citizen, I am ashamed that the country of Buddha and Gandhi helped a murderous government to slaughter innocent people," he further said.

When the basic tenets of democracy are denied what is the farce of holding elections, Mr. Pandian asked.

Even the Sinhalase people are not going to be spared, which is already being evident, the senior communist party politician of India from Tamil Nadu said.

"We will continue to fight against the wrong policies of the Indian government."

"Only when the Tamil people get their freedom we will rest, till then we will continue to our battle," he said.

The elections are being held in Sri Lanka only to show the world that they are a 'democratically elected' government.

The world must raise its voice, Mr. Pandian urged.

Commenting on the world attitude to democracy in Sri Lanka, Tamil circles said that during the war many western countries abetted Sri Lanka citing that it is a democratically elected government fighting against LTTE 'blighting' it for a long time. The British Ambassador to the UN, the British Foreign Secretary and the French Foreign Minister went on record on this.

To what extent the world would able to translate the result of the farce of elections in the island to resolve the crisis of Tamils remains to be seen, the Tamil circles said.